SoCal residents, sad but true, Chick Hearn has passed away :(
08-05-2002, 07:42 PM
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The voice of the Lakers for four decades. Story inside...
Lakers Broadcast Fixture Hearn Loses Battle, Dies at 85
Was Voice of Lakers for Four Decades
By PAUL WILBORN
.c The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (Aug. 5) -- Chick Hearn, who made phrases like "slam dunk'' and "air ball'' common basketball expressions during his 42-year broadcasting career with the Los Angeles Lakers, died Monday night. He was 85.
Hearn, the only play-by-play announcer the Los Angeles Lakers ever had, died at 6:30PM PT at Northridge Medical Center Hospital, team spokesman Bob Steiner told a grim-faced news conference outside the hospital.
Hearn was taken to the hospital Friday night after falling and striking his head in the back yard of the Encino home he shared with his wife Marge. The two would have celebrated their 64th wedding anniversary on Aug. 13.
Surgeons operated twice on Saturday to relieve swelling in his brain, but he never regained consciousness.
"Chick, we'll miss you dearly. Quite simply, you're the best,'' said Mitch Kupchak, the team's general manager and a former player, his voice breaking.
About 100 fans gathered outside the hospital, and many broke into tears when they heard Hearn had died.
Hearn called a record 3,338 consecutive Lakers games starting in 1965 before missing a game because he had to have an operation in December 2001 for a blocked aortic valve.
While recovering, he fell and broke his hip.
Despite that setback, he returned to work April 9 and broadcast the Lakers' playoff run to their third consecutive NBA championship.
He became the Lakers' announcer when the team moved from Minneapolis to Los Angeles at the beginning of the 1960-61 season.
Hearn's career with the Lakers was far longer than such standouts as Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jamaal Wilkes, James Worthy and Michael Cooper.
And he was calling games long before current stars Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant were born.
"There's never going to be another Chick Hearn,'' Johnson said Monday. "He's a man who will be remembered long after. Some people grow bigger than their sport, bigger than their job.''
Johnson said he will remember Hearn for more than what he did in the broadcast booth.
"He didn't just support Magic Johnson for what he did on the court,'' he said. "He supported Earvin Johnson Jr. When I talked to Chick, a lot of times it was hardly about basketball. He was always so proud of me. I would get little notes from him. That would make me feel so good.''
Hearn called his first Lakers game in March 1961. His last game was June 12 when the Lakers beat the New Jersey Nets 113-107 in East Rutherford, N.J., to complete a sweep of the NBA Finals and earn their ninth title since moving from Minneapolis in 1960.
During The Finals, he told the Associated Press he was getting stronger every day and planned to work at least one more season. And he said he believed his call of the Lakers' Game 7 victory over Sacramento in the Western Conference finals might have been as good as any in his career.
As recently as last week, he drove to Las Vegas with his wife to speak at a fantasy basketball camp.
Born Francis Dayle Hearn on Nov. 27, 1916, in Aurora, Ill., Hearn peppered his rapid-fire delivery with terms like "no harm, no foul,'' "the mustard's off the hot dog,'' "ticky-tack foul,'' and "faked him into the popcorn machine.''
Whenever he believed a Lakers victory was clinched, Hearn would say: "You can put this one in the refrigerator. The door's closed, the light's out, the eggs are cooling, the butter's getting hard and the Jell-O is jiggling.''
Hearn's unique "words-eye view'' provided the soundtrack for nine NBA championships -- one with West and Chamberlain, five with Johnson and Abdul-Jabbar, and the last three with O'Neal and Bryant.
When it came time to give out rings, raise championship banners, emcee victory parades or retire uniform numbers, Hearn was the master of ceremonies.
Hearn also broadcast other historic Lakers accomplishments, such as the night in Las Vegas when Abdul-Jabbar broke Chamberlain's NBA career scoring record and when Johnson broke Oscar Robertson's career assist record.
Hearn also was a comforting voice to fans in difficult basketball times -- helping fans cope with Johnson's HIV announcement in 1991 and Loyola Marymount star Hank Gathers' death in 1990.
When the Lakers moved from the Forum in nearby Inglewood to the downtown Staples Center in 1999, the press room was named in Hearn's honor.
He has been immortalized with a star on Hollywood's "Walk of Fame," and appeared as himself numerous times on television shows -- including the TV movie 'The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island'.
And he hosted the TV show 'Bowling for Dollars'.
Hearn missed just two games before his unprecedented streak -- one because bad weather kept him grounded and one because he had another broadcast assignment.
The first game of the streak was Nov. 21, 1965, at the Los Angeles Sports Arena. Johnson was in grade school and Abdul-Jabbar was still Lew Alcindor and a teenager.
Throughout his career, Hearn refused to call in sick. He came to work when he wasn't feeling well -- including a couple of times with laryngitis that forced him to sit out the second half.
A member of the Basketball Hall of Fame and the American Sportscasters Hall of Fame, Hearn received a standing ovation on his 85th birthday in November during a Lakers-Milwaukee Bucks game.
He got his nickname when friends played a prank on him when he was an amateur player. Given a box he thought contained sneakers, he found a chicken inside.
When Hearn broadcast his 3,000th consecutive game in 1998, O'Neal said, "That's an amazing accomplishment. I don't think I've done anything 3,000 times in my life. I hope he stays around 3,000 more games.''
Hearn documented the Lakers' record 33-game winning streak in the championship season of 1971-72 with West and Chamberlain, saying: "That will never be duplicated.'' It hasn't.
Pat Riley, a member of that team who later spent 2 1/2 years beside Hearn in the broadcast booth before he became the Lakers coach, credited Hearn with being his mentor, and not only in a broadcasting sense.
"He was a man who taught me about discipline,'' said Riley, who guided the Lakers to four NBA titles in the 1980s and now coaches the Miami Heat.
"He was an announcer who got fired up for games. He is the best, he has been the best in the NBA forever and will probably go down as the best,'' Riley said when Hearn's streak reached 3,000.
Hearn kept few secrets from Lakers fans. But he didn't like to talk about his age.
After he reached 70 or so, he would only chuckle and say, "I don't know, I lost my birth certificate.''
One might say he was "caught with his hand in the cookie jar'' during the NBA Finals in June, acknowledging his age and saying he was proud of it.
Hearn's death leaves Los Angeles with two Hall of Fame broadcasters -- Vin Scully of the Dodgers and Bob Miller of the Kings.
The Hearns had two children, but both died -- a son of a drug overdose, and a daughter after battling anorexia. The couple was very close with Shannon, their granddaughter, and her family.
AP Sports Writer John Nadel contributed to this story.
Was Voice of Lakers for Four Decades
By PAUL WILBORN
.c The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (Aug. 5) -- Chick Hearn, who made phrases like "slam dunk'' and "air ball'' common basketball expressions during his 42-year broadcasting career with the Los Angeles Lakers, died Monday night. He was 85.
Hearn, the only play-by-play announcer the Los Angeles Lakers ever had, died at 6:30PM PT at Northridge Medical Center Hospital, team spokesman Bob Steiner told a grim-faced news conference outside the hospital.
Hearn was taken to the hospital Friday night after falling and striking his head in the back yard of the Encino home he shared with his wife Marge. The two would have celebrated their 64th wedding anniversary on Aug. 13.
Surgeons operated twice on Saturday to relieve swelling in his brain, but he never regained consciousness.
"Chick, we'll miss you dearly. Quite simply, you're the best,'' said Mitch Kupchak, the team's general manager and a former player, his voice breaking.
About 100 fans gathered outside the hospital, and many broke into tears when they heard Hearn had died.
Hearn called a record 3,338 consecutive Lakers games starting in 1965 before missing a game because he had to have an operation in December 2001 for a blocked aortic valve.
While recovering, he fell and broke his hip.
Despite that setback, he returned to work April 9 and broadcast the Lakers' playoff run to their third consecutive NBA championship.
He became the Lakers' announcer when the team moved from Minneapolis to Los Angeles at the beginning of the 1960-61 season.
Hearn's career with the Lakers was far longer than such standouts as Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jamaal Wilkes, James Worthy and Michael Cooper.
And he was calling games long before current stars Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant were born.
"There's never going to be another Chick Hearn,'' Johnson said Monday. "He's a man who will be remembered long after. Some people grow bigger than their sport, bigger than their job.''
Johnson said he will remember Hearn for more than what he did in the broadcast booth.
"He didn't just support Magic Johnson for what he did on the court,'' he said. "He supported Earvin Johnson Jr. When I talked to Chick, a lot of times it was hardly about basketball. He was always so proud of me. I would get little notes from him. That would make me feel so good.''
Hearn called his first Lakers game in March 1961. His last game was June 12 when the Lakers beat the New Jersey Nets 113-107 in East Rutherford, N.J., to complete a sweep of the NBA Finals and earn their ninth title since moving from Minneapolis in 1960.
During The Finals, he told the Associated Press he was getting stronger every day and planned to work at least one more season. And he said he believed his call of the Lakers' Game 7 victory over Sacramento in the Western Conference finals might have been as good as any in his career.
As recently as last week, he drove to Las Vegas with his wife to speak at a fantasy basketball camp.
Born Francis Dayle Hearn on Nov. 27, 1916, in Aurora, Ill., Hearn peppered his rapid-fire delivery with terms like "no harm, no foul,'' "the mustard's off the hot dog,'' "ticky-tack foul,'' and "faked him into the popcorn machine.''
Whenever he believed a Lakers victory was clinched, Hearn would say: "You can put this one in the refrigerator. The door's closed, the light's out, the eggs are cooling, the butter's getting hard and the Jell-O is jiggling.''
Hearn's unique "words-eye view'' provided the soundtrack for nine NBA championships -- one with West and Chamberlain, five with Johnson and Abdul-Jabbar, and the last three with O'Neal and Bryant.
When it came time to give out rings, raise championship banners, emcee victory parades or retire uniform numbers, Hearn was the master of ceremonies.
Hearn also broadcast other historic Lakers accomplishments, such as the night in Las Vegas when Abdul-Jabbar broke Chamberlain's NBA career scoring record and when Johnson broke Oscar Robertson's career assist record.
Hearn also was a comforting voice to fans in difficult basketball times -- helping fans cope with Johnson's HIV announcement in 1991 and Loyola Marymount star Hank Gathers' death in 1990.
When the Lakers moved from the Forum in nearby Inglewood to the downtown Staples Center in 1999, the press room was named in Hearn's honor.
He has been immortalized with a star on Hollywood's "Walk of Fame," and appeared as himself numerous times on television shows -- including the TV movie 'The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island'.
And he hosted the TV show 'Bowling for Dollars'.
Hearn missed just two games before his unprecedented streak -- one because bad weather kept him grounded and one because he had another broadcast assignment.
The first game of the streak was Nov. 21, 1965, at the Los Angeles Sports Arena. Johnson was in grade school and Abdul-Jabbar was still Lew Alcindor and a teenager.
Throughout his career, Hearn refused to call in sick. He came to work when he wasn't feeling well -- including a couple of times with laryngitis that forced him to sit out the second half.
A member of the Basketball Hall of Fame and the American Sportscasters Hall of Fame, Hearn received a standing ovation on his 85th birthday in November during a Lakers-Milwaukee Bucks game.
He got his nickname when friends played a prank on him when he was an amateur player. Given a box he thought contained sneakers, he found a chicken inside.
When Hearn broadcast his 3,000th consecutive game in 1998, O'Neal said, "That's an amazing accomplishment. I don't think I've done anything 3,000 times in my life. I hope he stays around 3,000 more games.''
Hearn documented the Lakers' record 33-game winning streak in the championship season of 1971-72 with West and Chamberlain, saying: "That will never be duplicated.'' It hasn't.
Pat Riley, a member of that team who later spent 2 1/2 years beside Hearn in the broadcast booth before he became the Lakers coach, credited Hearn with being his mentor, and not only in a broadcasting sense.
"He was a man who taught me about discipline,'' said Riley, who guided the Lakers to four NBA titles in the 1980s and now coaches the Miami Heat.
"He was an announcer who got fired up for games. He is the best, he has been the best in the NBA forever and will probably go down as the best,'' Riley said when Hearn's streak reached 3,000.
Hearn kept few secrets from Lakers fans. But he didn't like to talk about his age.
After he reached 70 or so, he would only chuckle and say, "I don't know, I lost my birth certificate.''
One might say he was "caught with his hand in the cookie jar'' during the NBA Finals in June, acknowledging his age and saying he was proud of it.
Hearn's death leaves Los Angeles with two Hall of Fame broadcasters -- Vin Scully of the Dodgers and Bob Miller of the Kings.
The Hearns had two children, but both died -- a son of a drug overdose, and a daughter after battling anorexia. The couple was very close with Shannon, their granddaughter, and her family.
AP Sports Writer John Nadel contributed to this story.
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08-05-2002, 08:19 PM
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Re: SoCal residents, sad but true, Chick Hearn has passed away :(
As a fan of all sports but specifically of basketball losing Chick was a loss of great proportion and this despite the fact that I HATE!! the la lakers. But as I said it truly is a sad event that Mr Hearns passed away.
08-05-2002, 08:32 PM
#10
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He was a legend who loved TT's
Imagine - frozen ropes, slam dunk, popcorn machine, It'ill count if it goes.....,mustard off (remember Jordan's dubious dunk that didn't make it)!!!!! You probably have your own memories but what a life he lived!!!! Peace.<ul><li><a href="http://www.fredyt123.com/tt.htm">http://www.fredyt123.com/tt.htm</a</li></ul>